Laura Vegas

i feel like i havn't done a boy layout in forever. lol! when i was cleaning out my photos a few weeks ago … i came across a bunch of photos of james … and decided to throw them all on a layout.

we miss the boy. the girls saw these photos out and gave their "ahh, he's so cute" that they give any time they see photos of our previous daycare kids. lol! this was another layout that was super simple … i didn't put too much thought into it. just cropped the photos down to fit … and pulled out whatever random product i could find.

and speaking of james … haley is reminding me so much of him these days! she is talking up a storm … and asking me all sorts of questions … all day long. i remember when james started coming here … he was about 2 years old. and boy did he ask questions. only they were the same questions … over and over and over and over and over. he could ask me the same question 27 times … and i would give him the same answer 27 times … and yet he'd ask me again. lol! it was one of those things that was adorably cute … and somewhat annoying … all at the same time!

and haley is the same now. a few days ago, i got a delivery from the fedex dude. well, first off she totally freaked out … as in crying, screaming, and clinging to me for dear life. which was crazy … since the dude was already back in his truck and waving when i opened the door. and he's a nice dude too … always asks about the kids when i get to the door in time. lol! but then … after he left and she calmed down … she started asking questions. "the man" … yes, the man was here. "the box" … yes, he brought me a box. "drive" … yes, he drove away. "his keys" … yes, he had his keys. those 4 questions … over and over and over and over and over.

and 2 days later … she was still talking about it. lol! she came this morning and was asking the same thing … "the man, the box". funny thing was … he came back this morning! brought me another box … and drove away with his keys! so now she has even more reason to keep asking. lol! i just worry she'll go home and start talking about "the man" … and her mom and dad will wonder who the heck this "man" is that must have been here. lol!

although … if you saw what was in the box … you'd be talking about it too!!!

someone started the 7th grade on monday. which seems crazy … how can i actually have a 7th grader?!?! but apparently, i do … because she came home with these today.

what is all this? we have 10 books … 6 notebooks … and 6 folders. there is actually another hardback textbook … but it's at school. why aren't these books at school? is it because she needs them all for homework … or to study? nope … it's because she will have to carry these to and from school everyday. our school doesn't have lockers for the jr highers. we knew about this … so it wasn't unpexpected. and i actually don't know why they don't have lockers … but i'm sure there's a reason.

total sidenote … but something i want to remember: when amanda saw the "world history/medieval" textbook … she asked why there was a picture of the "round table guy" on the front of the book. lol! it was hilarious! and of course … joe perked right up when he heard "round table" … he loves their pizza!

 

ok … she doesn't really carry them like this. she does have a backpack. lol! a really cool black and pink backpack with hearts and skulls all over it. but all of these books don't fit in her backpack. and most days, she has a lunch too … and water bottle … and other pencils and things. but look at the girl … you can tell it's heavy. she's a little thing … she only weighs 67 pounds. yes, she'll be 12 next month … and weighs 67 pounds. lol! so we decided to weigh the books. 20 pounds of books there … twenty pounds!!! she was saying how she had her backpack on after school (and carrying some books) … and another friend (who is pretty tiny) brushed up against her in passing … and they both almost toppled right over. lol!

  

i took these pictures right after school … after her walk home. a walk in the heat … i know it was over 100 degrees today. you can even see the sweat on her forehead and in her hair. nice, i know. lol!

but i'm sure she'll be ok … because her little sister (who is in fact an inch or two taller) has offered to give her back massages every day. lol!

so yes, alyssa is in 7th grade … and so far she likes it. 6 different teachers, 6 different classes. but pretty much the entire class sticks together all day … so she stays with the same group of kids for each class. her elective is band … she's in her second year of the clarinet. which will be nice now that they have band every day … for an hour. instead of the 30 minutes or so once a week … like they did last year. the homework hasn't started yet … but it's coming. just looking at what she has to do for some of these classes … so much work! luckily, she is really good about working on things ahead of time. unlike her mom … who is a huge procrastinator. lol!

sarah is in 4th grade! her first year with letter grades … and i'm sure more homework. she has a few friends in her class this year. it was so different than year-round … when you knew what kids would be in your class because you were on the same track. this time it was just luck in who was in your class with you. she likes her teacher … and has already told me all about the cool stuff that her teacher does. and this is a big year for PE too … they have to start running the mile every week. luckily, she's a good runner.

i still didn't take any first-day-of-school photos. heck, i'm a scrapbooker … i have no problem stageing these photos at any given time .. and then passing them off as the real-deal. i actually have a back-to-school layout that i was doing today … about alyssa going into jr high. i pulled out a photo from back in march … because it matched my papers. lol! nothing wrong with that! but i will get the official photos … with the backpacks … like every other year.

first off … today was the girls first day of school!!! but i'll have to blog about that one tomorrow … because we still have to take their "first day of school" photos. lol!

so tonight i was making dinner. i had the london broil in the oven … looking good. i had smashed red potatoes in the works on the stovetop … all boiling away. i had my famous steak sauce gravy all ready on the stovetop … it was looking perfectly thick and saucey. everything was smelling good. the timer went off for the meat … and i went to grab it out of the oven. i went to set it on the side of the stovetop that i wasn't using … on the grates. just like i always do … i always set things there when i pull them out of the oven. and then the crazy part.

as soon as the 9×11 glass dish that i had the london broil in touched the grate … it exploded into a zillion pieces!!! i still had a hold of it … had barely touched it down. and the thing exploded all over the place. and i'm not being dramatic … it seriously exploded. and not big chunks of glass … little slivers and pieces covered the stove top, the floor, the counters, everything on the counters, the carpet in the family room … and me. i had slivers of glass all over me … and a few pieces stuck in my skin. the meat was actually laying on the kitchen floor … and the juices were all over the place. glass in the potatoes … and the gravy. how badly does that stink?!?!?

joe and i proceeded to spend an entire hour trying to clean it all up. trying to get all the little pieces of glass from every nook and cranny. waiting for the stove to cool down so that we could remove the grates and clean all the juices and glass that was hardened on. vacuumming the floors … over and over … with 3 different vacuums. thowing away our entire dinner … and then cleaning all those dishes. i think we got it all … at least, i'm hoping we got it all.

edited to add: ok, so sarah just had to call grammy and tell her about this. and then she gave me the old "i don't think you're supposed to use a glass dish under a broiler … or even in an oven over 350 degrees" talk. moms, right? lol! i have never heard of such a thing. and even if this is true .. i'm still claiming this as a freaky occurance. because i have been using that exact same glass dish FOREVER … and i cook TONS of things at 450 degrees … ALL the time. and i have been broiling that same steak for over a year now … several times a month. the exact same way … in the exact same dish. she said that i must have been lucky then. but how can i have spend all these years being so lucky?!?! i still say it's totally crazy!

then … we were all hungry. and our yummy smelling dinner was in the garbage. and we couldn't cook anything quick on the stove (like easy top ramen) … because the stovetop was totally taken apart. so we decide to just grab some burgers somewhere. so joe goes to get them.

he walked out the side door and got in the car (which was parked on the street on the side of the house … we live on a corner) … and started to warm up the engine for a minute … since the car sits there all day long. he wasn't even in the car for more than 40 seconds … and a police car goes by and looks at him funny. and then proceeds to stop and make a u-turn … and pulls up right behind joe. so the police officer gets out and walks over to the car. now, i see all this through the kitchen window … i was standing at the sink cleaning still. i had no idea what was going on … or what he was asking him about. and i didn't go outside to check either. so i actually got the full report when he got back from getting dinner. lol! but here's what happened.

officer: what are you doing?
joe: going to get some dinner
officer: why are you just sitting in the car?
joe: because i'm warming it up
officer: do you always warm it up?
joe: yes, it sits here all day because i work at night
officer: it looks a little suspicious that you are just sitting in your car
joe: i just got in the car
officer: do you live around here?
joe: yes
officer: where do you live?
joe: right here (pointing to the house)
officer: well, we've had some break-ins in the area and have been watching the neighborhood
joe: well, i appreciate that
officer: and where is it that you live again?
joe: right here (pointing to the house once again)

then the officer let him go … but still looked extremely suspicious as he went back to his patrol car … and got a good look at our license plate too. when joe got back with dinner … and told me what happened … i was thinking "what the heck". it's great that they're watching the area … and i've seen them driving around a lot today. but joe had been in the car all of 40 seconds … and that was "suspicious"?!?! crazy stuff i tell you!

will be back tomorrow with all the "first day of school" stories and photos!

ok, you all surprised me … i guess there are more people than i thought stopping by on the weekend. lol! but enough of 14 year old photos. this blog is desperate for some layouts … how long ago did i even share one?!?! i feel like it's been way too long. but i finally made a layout last night.

  

i love making photo collages … just love the look of them. and i know how to make them … and size them all up to fit my photos. but it does take a little planning … and some basic math skills. lol! so i was really excited when scrapbooks etc finally got their photo collage templates up on the site a few weeks ago. you can check them out HERE … and download them all to try them out. i used this one for this layout. i'm all for doing my own collages … but i'm also all for letting others do the thinking for me. lol! and sometimes i don't want to do the math and figure it all out … sometimes i just want to plop the photos in and be done with it.

now, i admit that it took me a while to figure it all out. it looks simple enough when you watch the video on how to use the templates. i honestly think my main problem was that i had never "unzipped" the files after downloading them … because once i figured that out, everything worked so much easier. you can just pull up your photos and drop them into the templates … and then size the photos to fit. you can then print your collage right out. the square template came up as 8×8 … but you could change that to a 10×10, a 6×6, or whatever you wanted. i scrap a lot of 9×9 layouts … so i can see printing some at 6×6 to still give me enough room to play with. i did print this as 8×8 though … and made a 12×12 layout with it.

as for the page itself … i used a large piece of ki memories lace cardstock that i had. the tag is actually covering one of the photos on the collage … that photo ended up looking a little distorted the way i had cropped in in there. so i just added the tag on top. the stamped images are hero arts … and i colored them in a little with some colored pencils. to be honest … i kept feeling the need to add more embellishments to this. and journaling. but i ended up leaving it just like this … i think it was just enough.

supplies:
lace cardstock – ki memories
tag, label – creative cafe
stamps – hero arts
chipboard – american crafts
brads – making memories
colored pencils – ek success

when i posted some of the pictures of the girls jumping off the rocks at the cabin … i mentioned that you'd have to go back a few years to see any pictures of me doing it. i can assure you that i did do it on the last trip … which was 3 years ago. anyways … a few of you asked what it would take to get me to post some of those pictures. of course i answered that i'd have to find pics … and then would have to actually figure out how to scan them in. and that would never happen … because let's face it … i can be lazy when i want. lol! however … my mom isn't quite so lazy about that kind of thing. so she did the work for me … and now i have to share!

that's me … 14 years ago! i wasn't expecting pictures that far back … that is a LONG time ago. lol!

i know … i'm so graceful. lol! and for some reason, i feel the need to clarify that we always wore jean shorts, shirts, and tennis shoes in all our jumping activities … because you have to climb your way back out after jumping. lol! not that means anything … just might explain why i looked fully clothed while jumping in a river.

this was the year we had a huge family group at the cabin. and this was one of our many group jumps. that is my brother at the very top … that is jump #6, which is insanely high up (and i never did!). i think the rest of us are jumping off #3 or #4.

 

and that, my friends … is grammy! i can't be totally sure (mainly because i already forgot what she told me) … but i think that is her jumping off of #6.

another reason i don't mind posting these? no one is around here on the weekend anyways, right?!?! lol! i can tell … because my blog stats go down by half the normal amount. so this way … not as many of you will see these … or at least i can hope!

next up is miranda! isn't she adorable!

we have loved having miranda around for the past 2 months … even if it meant i had to get up super early a few days a week. lol! her dad went back to his regular work schedule … which means that mom or dad will always be able to be home with her. bad for us … since that means she doesn't need us anymore. lol! but good for them. yesterday was her last official day here with us … although i'm sure she'll be back to visit now and then.

 

she got a hold of the beads too … all of them! and this was before i put her hair up in the little ponies. i kept putting that little clip in because her bangs were always in her face and we couldn't see her. but she would pull out the clip and fling it wherever she could. so i finally sat her down and managed to pull her hair up in the ponies … and she looked so adorable!

  

and the girlie is finally walking. she took her sweet time on this … which is totally fine. she just wasn't in a rush to get anywhere. but now she's walking … not all the time … but when she feels it's beneficial to her. lol!

and with that … she's outta here! lol! we'll miss you tons miranda!

i have taken so many photos the last two days … that i almost don't know where to start in showing them off. lol! i havn't had my camera out for a while to be honest. but yesterday, the girls were getting haley all prettied up … and i had to get some photos of her because she was just looking so darn cute. so i guess i'll start with her!

you'd almost think we planned this outfit. lol! the beads … all the kids LOVE those beads and wear them all the time. and the colors just happen to match her little outfit perfectly! the girls had pulled her hair up in a little ponytail … and put some clips in the side. and the glasses … they didn't stay on long … but they were cute while they lasted.

 

is it me … or does she look so much older all of the sudden?!?! she's a few months shy of turning 2 years old … seems like just yesterday that i was making her bottles. lol! and now she walks around calling our names all day … and asking tons of questions over and over … and having conversations with us. we love it! i really hope she knows that she means the world to me … to all of us.

for better picture taking … i took her in the front yard. she wasn't big on it. she really had a hard time looking at ME … although she's always been that way with my camera. lol! and i also think she thought we were going someone … like actually going in the car and leaving. and we weren't. lol! she had a play cell phone with her … and i think she was calling for help … for someone to rescue her from me and my camera!

i was at the side of the house for a minute checking something. i think she was checking to see if the coast was clear. lol!

and then … for whatever reason .. she laid right down on the porch by the front door. i love when kids do that … because i simply walk over and stand directly above them for a few last photos. they have no where to go … and i usually get a good one in the process!

more to come tomorrow. and maybe the next day. i would show you some scrapping goodness … but that would require me actually finding time to scrapbook! lol! so you'll have to settle for the photos for now!

so this past weekend, we made a little trip up to my uncle's cabin with my parents … about 2 1/2 hours from here. my family has been going there for years … since we were kids. really nice … right on the river. i really didn't take that many pictures … nothing like i've done in the past. but i just didn't want to worry about dragging my camera down all the time. plus, the sun was killing me … which explains why these photos are all over the place with coloring and shadows!

just a tiny little hike down from the cabin is the river … with a little beach area to hang out. there are lots of spots to jump off rocks … and if you hike farther down, there is some nature-made waterslides and a waterfall. we pretty much stuck to the little jumps and the beach area this trip … nice and relaxed. the girls hung out in the water … floated around on the tubes … skipped rocks … all that "river stuff"!

little breaks now and then for snacks … and a bigger break mid-day for lunch up at the cabin … before heading back down to the river.

hiking up the rocks to jump with papa. can you see sarah sticking her tongue out in concentration?!?! lol!

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more hiking. and if i got pictures of them hiking … that means i was hiking too. lol! i would hike up with them … and then they would go jump off the rocks or float down the river in their tubes. and then i would hike back on my own.

there is alyssa jumping! it does look like she's really close to the rock on that one … but trust me, she jumped out enough to clear it. lol! and this is only jump #1 … there are actually 6 jumps of varying heights. but i'm too much of a worrier … so i won't let them go any higher yet!

and sarah … you'd think she literally ran right off that rock by this picture. lol! and now that i'm looking … you might think they were going to actually land on a rock at the bottom … but they actually landed in the water on the other side of that rock on the bottom. and btw … just have to toss in here the fact that grammy jumps off these rocks too. which i know the girls think is cool. how many grandmas do you know that will jump off rocks like that? lol!

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and after they would jump … they would float right down the river in the tubes. and if you're looking for pictures of me jumping off rocks … or even swimming … we'll have to dig out the photos from the last trip. because i did neither of those things. lol! i know my family gives me a bad time about it … but i really just didn't want to put on a bathing suit or go swimming. i walked around in the water when i got hot … and skipped rocks. the farthest i got in was almost up to mid-thigh … at which point i got stung by a bee that was floating in the water. how crazy is that … when do people get stung by bees?!?! that thing hurt like heck … and proves why i didn't want to get in the water to begin with. lol!

the only downside … you have to guard the property. yes, it's private property … but it's also a very popular part of the river. so you get hundreds of people going through each day. you kindly ask them to respect the property … and hike at the waters edge. and then you get all the people that want to argue with you … pretend they don't know … and say that they can do whatever they want. it's one of the downfalls … puts a little damper on the fun. don't get me wrong … we still had tons of fun … and the girls loved it. just wish we could do without that part of it.

one of the main things we do at night … is play cards. it's always been that way. usually, it's a super long game of rummy. we didn't try that until the 3rd night this trip … i guess we weren't thinking that the girls could learn it. but they did great at it … straights, runs … they did it all. they have also mastered the game of blackjack. lol! seriously … can't tell you fast alyssa cleaned us all out … entirely out. we dug up all the change we could find in the car … and played for money. the girls loved that. and i also taught alyssa how to play solitaire … and she won her very first game. and then she preceeded to win about 4 more games after that. she was on a card roll this weekend!

so, all in all … a nice, relaxing weekend. we thank grammy and papa for all they did on the trip … and for helping keep the girls entertained. we were glad to get home though after 3 days. i think we all missed the comforts of home … the tv, the computer, the couch, the comfy beds, and more than anything … the shower. lol!

i’m back home … but now i just have to climb my way out of everything that piled up while i was gone. lol! this is why i took an extra day off work … to get everything back in order before allowing all the daycare kids back in my house. so today is about running errands (post office, bank, groceries), laundry, housecleaning, paying bills, and all that good stuff. and i hope to have some pics of our weekend ready to share tonight.

in the meantime … speaking of climbing … and speaking of daycare kids.

had to share this photo. technically, it’s an awful photo. but this seriously cracks me up when i look at it! this is typical nikolas … climbing on whatever he can find. he gets up there by himself … and then gets this big smile on his face and just waits to see if i’m looking. and then he starts bouncing up and down. safe, right?!?! he’s only fallen once. lol! and that shirt is just too adorable … need to get some good pics in that shirt!

i know i’ve been a bad blogger this week. and you’ll have to give me a few more days … and then i’ll be back. i had a few things i was going to share … and a few things to discuss. but life has gotten in the way … once again.

we’re supposed to be leaving tonight … for a little weekend getaway to the cabin. are we even ready to go anywhere? no! we have not packed a single thing … havn’t even started to think about packing. havn’t thought about food that we need to bring. i have a few loads of laundry going. i have a layout that has to boxed up and mailed out today. i have another layout that i have to finish and turn in today. i’m working today … so i have kids to take care of all day. i havn’t thought about who is taking care of our fish. alyssa is still at her dad’s … not sure what time she’s even coming back. did i mention we havn’t even thought about packing yet?!?! lol!

and it’s 10:30am … so i guess i better get back to work! have a great weekend … and i’ll catch you when i get back!